Sunday, May 3, 2015

Estelle has been lucky enough to receive lots and lots of books as presents - and they needed a home. So I decided to hunt down an old bookcase in a charity shop and upscale it.

Estelle is crazy about pink, so I thought a bookcase decorated with my bright pink flamingo linocuts would be a good idea.

Bookcase from charity shop

This is the bookcase I bought for a grand total of £12 from the Castle Furniture Project here in Perth. As you can see, it had some glass doors, but I decided discard these. The same furniture project sells recycled paint. I chose a pale grey-blue colour as I thought this would be a good contrast to the pink flamingoes. I lightly sanded the bookcase and gave it 3 coats of paint.

I scanned in my flamingo linocuts (which you can buy on Etsy or at my online gallery). I wanted to give the appearance of a flock of flamingoes, so I cut out flamingoes in a variety of sizes for each shelf.

I cut them out and glued them into place carefully using Mod Podge.

The finished flamingo bookcase

As you can see, I also glued a large flamingo onto the outside of each side of the book case. To protect them, I gave all the flamingoes two coats of Mod Podge. I then gave the whole bookcase two coats of varnish.

The finished bookcase - a colourful and practical addition to Estelle's bedroom.

About Me

I'm Marliese Richmond and I run the Three Bears Prints Company (www.threebearsprints.com), producing characterful, hand-crafted prints. Each original design is inspired by wildlife, stories or poems. Traditional and modern print making techniques are used, and the final design is produced using a century old, hand operated press. Intensely coloured inks and carefully chosen papers are used to complement designs rich in pattern and texture. Three Bears Prints bring a smile to your face and convey my passion for the natural world and print making.